


Lost Boy

by Obsessive_mishamigo



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abusive John Winchester, Alternate Universe - High School, Castiel Krushnic, Child Abuse, Dean is not a winchester, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Gabriel krushnic, High School, Homophobic John Winchester, Homophobic Language, John Winchester's A+ Parenting, John is a dick, Lost Brother, M/M, Sabriel - Freeform, Unknown Family, What else is new, gay-straight alliance, he is a campbell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-26 17:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17750303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obsessive_mishamigo/pseuds/Obsessive_mishamigo
Summary: Dean Campbell had everything he wanted. Hot boyfriend, a mom who loved him for who he was, the star quarterback with prospects of scholarships to college and a kick-ass car. Yes, he had everything. Well, maybe not everything. He was missing one thing, his brother.When said brother randomly shows up one day, Dean learns that his own boyfriend's brother has the hots for Sam, without even knowing who he really is.





	1. I'm Sam...Winchester.

Dean Campbell had everything he wanted. Hot boyfriend, a mom who loved him for who he was, the star quarterback with prospects of scholarships to college and a kick-ass car. Yes, he had everything. Well, maybe not everything. He was missing one thing, his brother. Their parents had divorced when they were both very young. In fact, Dean was only five when they split. John took Sam and moved out of state, Mary stayed in the same town as her parents. 

Despite never being able to talk about John, this never stopped the hole in Dean’s heart that his brother belonged in from growing. He vowed to himself when he turned 18 that he would go looking for Sam. He never once thought that it would be this easy.

*****

October 12th

School had been going for a few months now and Dean was, as always, surrounded by friends. “Hey, baby,” he said and pulled his boyfriend Cas closer. “Did you finish the homework for Mr. Turner’s class?”

“Of course I did,” Cas replied and gave Dean a sound kiss. “You need to finish your lunch. You know how bad gym is after if you don’t,” Castiel practically scolded him, seeing most of Dean’s food left on the plate.

Sighing, Dean started to eat again. “Hey, bro,” Gabriel slid in across from them. “You see the new kid? He’s like a fucking tree. I just want to climb him.” A sly smirk grazed his face. 

Castiel just looked at his older brother and shook his head. “Can you be appropriate? Some of us are trying to eat.” He rolled his eyes and went to finish his food. “Plus, do you even know his name?”

“Uhhh…” he had to think. They did have a class together, despite Gabriel being older. “Winnnnn...chester?” he said, in a questionable tone. “I don’t remember his first name.”

Dean started to cough violently, the name alone caused him to swallow wrong. 

“Babe, are you okay?” Castiel was overwhelmed with concern. 

Dean just nodded. “Just went down the wrong pipe. I’m fine,” he said before taking a big gulp of water. “How old do you think he is?”

“Younger than me, but wow is he smart...and cute.” Gabe had a dreamy look in his eyes. 

“I don’t need to hear about your crushes, Gabe.” Cas shook his head. This wasn’t the first time he heard about a crush of his. All of Gabe’s crushes never seemed to reciprocate his feelings and Cas always felt bad for him. “You sure this one is even into guys?” he teased.

“Shut up, Cas,” Gabe grumbled, bit into a sandwich and sank into his chair. 

The rest of lunch Gabe didn’t say anything. Cas’ words hit him hard. He had a long history of falling for straight guys, and Cas tended to remind him of that on occasion. That started when Gabe started to get feelings for their cousin Ambriel’s best friend, Balthazar. He had honestly given up telling anyone about his feelings for a long time after that. They often picked on him about any even remotely attractive man that came into their lives. 

“I gotta go get ready for gym,” Gabe mumbled when he was done eating and got up. “Stupid brother and his stupid boyfriend. How come he gets a stupid boyfriend?” he muttered to himself as he walked to the locker rooms to change. 

After lunch, Dean gave Cas a long kiss. “I’ll see you after school to give you guys a ride home,” he said and got up to also go get ready for gym. 

“You better.” Cas winked and smiled with a slight blush. 

“Don’t...don’t you dare tease me, Krushnic.” Dean licked his lips, winked back and left to go to the locker rooms. 

When he got in the locker room, he watched Gabe leaving one of the bathroom stalls with his clothes in his hands. “Did you just change in the stall? Since when do you change in the stall?” Dean looked at him confused. 

“Since always, Dean,” Gabe said softly, passing him to go shove his things in his locker and run out to the gym, not looking at anyone. 

“That was strange.” Dean shook his head and went to change. 

In the gym, Gabe was avoiding everyone’s eye contact, more so to the new student who seemed to tower over him.

Sam just sat on the bleachers, looking down at his hands. This was the third high school he had been to, and he was only 15. His dad promised that this would be the last, but he said that last time. Watching everyone file in, Sam reluctantly got up to join them. 

“Listen up! I want everyone to welcome our newest student. Please introduce yourself,” Coach Henriksen singled out Sam.

“Uhm, I’m Sam...Winchester. I’ve moved around a lot so I don’t really have a home town. But I hope to be here for the rest of the year at least,” he said nervously with a tiny wave.

“Sam…” Gabe said very softly to himself, kicking himself that he had already forgotten his name. 

Dean took a deep breath to keep himself cool, knowing the brother he had wanted to meet his entire life was standing feet away from him. 

“Thank you, Sam. Okay! Campbell, Krushnic! Captains. Let’s play some dodgeball.” He clapped. 

Dean and Gabe went to the front of everyone and Coach Victor took out a quarter. “Dean, call it in the air,” he said and tossed it.

“Tails.” The quarter landed on the ground. Tails it was. 

“Okay, you pick first.” Victor pat Dean on the shoulder and stood back. 

“New guy, Sam,” he said with a small smile. 

Gabe just looked at Dean and glared. “You did that on purpose, didn't you?” he grumbled. 

“You bet your ass I did.” He wasn’t about to admit what the real reason was. He was just going to let Gabe think what he wanted. Sure, it was a nice bonus that Gabe would be distracted having the guy that he so boldly proclaimed his crush for on his team. 

They spent the next few minutes picking out their teams then splitting up. “You cool, Sam?” Dean asked as they did some stretches. 

“Yeah, thanks. I’m sure that’s the only time you’ll want to pick me first. But I appreciate it,” Sam said softly. He felt like being picked first was a pity pick because he was the new guy. 

“Don’t worry, Sam. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.” Dean nodded. “Besides, you’re like seven feet tall, you’ll do fine.”

Sam just rolled his eyes at both comments and went to line up to play. Coach Victor blew his whistle, and both teams ran off to grab the balls that were lined up in the middle. 

Red rubber balls were constantly flying from one side of the gym to the other. Ping after ping, people were tagged out to wait for the next game. Before anyone knew it, the only people left were Sam, Dean, Gabe, and one other teammate of Gabe’s, Cole.

“Give it up, Krushnic. You and Trenton have nothing on us.” Dean tossed the ball he was holding and pegged Cole in the arm. “HA! Take that, Trenton!”

“You watch out next game, Campbell.” Cole rubbed his arm and walked over to the side. “Stupid quarterback has a cannon for an arm,” he teased, knowing his friend could hear him.

“Gets us winning games, don’t complain,” Dean added with a chuckle. “Okay, Krushnic, just us and you. Who are you going to go for first?” Dean glanced at Sam then back to Gabe with a subtle eyebrow wiggle. 

Gabe was the only one with a ball in play and he looked between the two of them for what seemed like forever. 

“Gabe! Just throw the damn ball,” Coach Victor broke him from his zoning out. 

“Sorry, new guy,” he whispered and tossed the ball. 

Seeing the ball was inadvertently going for Sam’s head, Dean ran and jumped, catching it as Sam ducked. Out of sheer reflex and the fact that he almost pegged his brother in the head, Dean instantly threw the ball back, hitting Gabe hard in the gut. Holding his stomach, Gabe doubled over on himself and dropped to the ground. 

“Crap…” Dean said and quickly went to Gabe. “Hey, are you okay?” He looked concerned. Surely if Cas found out he hurt his brother, it wouldn’t be good. 

Gabe groaned and tried to stand. “Let me take you to Mrs. Tran.” Dean helped him up. 

Coach Henriksen blew his whistle. “You two are excused, rest of you, line up. Let’s go again!” 

Dean helped Gabe down the hall to Mrs. Tran’s office. “Son of a…” Gabe grumbled and got up on the bed. “Why did you throw it so hard?”

“Sorry, it was going for his head, and I just couldn’t let that happen.” Dean sat down by him while Mrs. Tran checked him out. 

“Why? You got the hots for him too? Isn’t my brother enough for you? Have to go after the new kid?” Gabe glared at him. “You know I think he’s cute, that’s why you picked him, so I couldn’t. You did that to distract me, you jerk!” He let out a hiss as Linda touched a sore spot. 

“Gabe, it’s not that. I promise you it’s not that.” Dean looked down. “Please believe me.”

“Why should I? You rocket launched a dodgeball at me because of him.”

“Gabe, you have to promise me that this stays here. You can’t tell anyone, not even Cas.” He looked up with a very serious face. “Promise me.”

“Fine, what is it? Why is he so freaking important that I’m risking internal injuries?” He groaned out again. 

“Mr. Krushnic, I assure you that you do not have any internal injuries.” Linda came back with some over the counter painkillers. “You’re going to have one heck of a bruise, but you will be fine.” She went back to her desk to write down his visit. 

“Gabe, I think Sam’s my brother.” He sighed. “My mom and dad split when we were very little. My mom told me about him, and he’s never left my thoughts. Sam Winchester. My dad’s name...John Winchester. Gabe, I’m certain that’s my brother.” 

Seeing the raw emotion from Dean was something only Cas got to experience. Gabe had never seen Dean this serious or what appeared to be on the verge of tears. “Your...brother?” He sat up slowly after taking the pain medicine. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” He shook his head. 

“I don’t think he does either.” That thought broke his heart. “Please don’t tell him.”

“Secret is safe with me. But dude, your brother is hot.” Gabe smirked. 

“Shut up, Gabe.” 


	2. Campbell, like the soup.

“You’re late,” John said firmly and took a drink of a beer. 

“Sorry, Sir. The bus was running late.” Sam went right to the table to start on his homework. 

“Excuses,” John mumbled. “Tell me about your first day. How is the school?”

“School’s fine. The gym teacher seems like a hard ass.” Sam put his backpack down and opened up his book. “Met a few people.”

“Go on.” John turned off the television and only leaned over to see his son. 

“One’s mom is the nurse, a couple of the guys had some Russian sounding last name, and one named after a soup.” He didn’t feel the need to actually learn their names. They were never anywhere long enough for him to care.

“After a soup?” John didn’t seem amused.

“Yeah, Campbell. Like the soup.” Sam rolled his eyes and went back to his work.

“Boy, you know I don’t like you messing with me. Your dumbass jokes aren’t funny.” John got up and staggered over to him. 

“I wasn’t joking. His name is Campbell.” He looked up. “Like. The. Soup.” He emphasized each syllable. 

John’s hand came out and struck him on the side of the face. “You get that stupid ass grin off your face right now and do your damn homework. Just for that, you can go to your room without dinner.” He chugged the rest of his beer before going to the fridge to get another one.

“Like you were going to cook anyway,” Sam mumbled and rubbed his cheek. 

“I heard that!” John yelled and came back into the room. Slamming the bottle down on the table, Sam jumped at the noise alone. 

“I’m sorry, Sir,” he said quickly out of reflex alone. His heart was racing and he didn’t even look up at him. 

Bending down, the smell of stale alcohol lingered on his breath. “You can go now. I don’t want to see your ungrateful ass.”

Sam scrambled to get his work to take it with him, but John’s hand slammed down on it. “Leave it,” John said through clenched teeth. 

Looking down, Sam stood and started to go to his room. As he moved, John removed his belt and folded it in half. With a snap, he hit Sam in the back twice before Sam moved faster to get to his room. 

Locking the door, he sat down on the mattress that was simply laid out on the floor. He curled up into himself and tried his best not to audibly cry. He knew if his dad heard him it would only get worse, and he would lose access to his door completely. 

He stayed there till he was positive that his dad had passed out. Quietly, he snuck out of his room to grab his homework, some water, and a half-eaten burger that his dad left in the fridge from his lunch. He would have chosen something healthier, but that was the only thing that didn’t look like it was expired. “Why do we even have this? We just moved here,” Sam asked himself but put the thought in the back of his head.

Every house was the same. Run down, spiders everywhere, sometimes even rats or mice. No heating, but until now that didn’t seem to matter. They never lived anywhere that was too cold. The cool breeze coming through the cracked window said that this winter was going to be different. 

Sam ate the partial burger and managed to get his homework done just shy of midnight. He passed out, with a book on his chest, papers spread along his bed and floor. 

The next morning, his dad loudly pounded on his door to wake him. “Did you eat my food?!” he yelled through the barrier. 

“No, sir,” he lied. It was right then, he realized he forgot to lock his door again, and John came bursting in. 

“You lying sack of shit. You ate my burger!” Looking down, he saw the wrapper. Bending down, he picked it up and shoved it in Sam’s face. “See? You ate it!” Throwing the wrapper back down, he yanked Sam up by the hair and slapped him in the same spot as the night before. “Get your shit and go to school. I’ll be glad to get rid of you for a few hours.” 

Sam’s eyes started to water and he scooped up all his things. Shoving them in his backpack, he left the house without even changing his clothes. Not that he had many clothes to choose from anyway, he always seemed to lose a few favorite pieces in each move.    
  
While he stood and waited for the bus, he fixed the papers in his bag so they were at least organized. When the bus got there, he simply shuffled on and sat in the back, looking out the window so he didn’t have to talk to anyone.    
  
At school, everyone was already bustling around, talking to friends and heading to their home rooms. With a big yawn, Sam went right to his first class and sat in his seat. Looking up at the board, he took his book out to get a head start on the reading that was listed.    
  
Gabe slid into the room right before the bell rang and glanced at Sam on his way back to his desk. With a slightly confused look on his face, he snuck his phone out to text Dean, having once taken the number from his brother to prank call him.    
  
**Gabe:** Hey, it’s Gabe. So you know how Sam is in my history class?   
  
**Dean:** Yeah, what about it? Also, how did you get my number?   
  
**Gabe:** That’s not important, you need to see this.    
  
Gabe secretly snapped a picture of Sam, getting the angle just right to show the red mark on his face to quickly sent to Dean.    
  
**Dean:** What’s that red on his face?   
  
**Gabe:** I don’t know. But it doesn't look good.    
  
**Dean:** Thanks for letting me know.    
  
**Gabe:** Are you going to tell Cas about him?   


**Dean:** Eventually.   
  
“Gabriel, put the phone away.”    
  
“Yes, Ms. Mills,” he said sheepishly and shoved it in his pocket. Everyone had turned to look at him. Well, everyone but Sam. 

Over the course of the class, Sam started to drift off into his book. His hand now covered the red mark his dad had left as he dozed off from lack of sleep the night before.    
  
Snickering softly, Jake started to put balled up papers into the hood of Sam sweatshirt whenever the teacher wasn’t looking. Each one of them had something written on it.    
  
_ I’m a tool.   
_ _ I’m the size of a house.  
_ _ I smell.  
_ _ No one will ever like me.  
_ _ I don’t own a comb.  _ _   
_ __ I only own one pair of pants.

Every time he put a paper in, Gabe would glare. “Jake, knock it off,” Gabe angrily said in a low raspy voice.    
  
“You going to make me, Gabe?” Jake turned and threw one of the papers, bonking Gabe in the nose with it.   
  
“Yeah, I am,” he glared again and opened the paper. Reading it, he got even angrier and balled it back up and stood up. Stomping over to the garbage, he threw it away. The whole way back to his desk, his eyes locked on Jake. “I’ll tell Ms. Mills about the time you cheated off my test,” he said a bit louder than he had been talking.    
  
With a narrowed gaze, Jake sat back and huffed. The bell ringing for the end of class woke Sam up.  _ Shit.  _ He picked up his things and left quickly. On his way to his second class, he wasn’t paying attention and ran right into a warm body. “Hey...Sam,” Dean said, looking at the mark on his face. “Are you okay? Do you need to see the nurse?” He had a concerned look on his face.    
  
“No, I’m okay. I just tripped in my kitchen and the fridge won our wrestling match,” he muttered and circled him to keep walking.    
  
“Hey, look, it’s none of my business but..”   
  
“You’re right, it’s not any of your business,” Sam added.    
  
“Sam, stop. You need to see Mrs. Tran.” Dean followed him.    
  
“Why do you care?!” Sam snapped and turned around.   
  
“Because I know that didn’t happen at school. No one should be treated like that by their parent,” Dean said softly, but loud enough for Sam to hear.    
  
“It wasn’t…” he sighed. “Fine. Let’s make it quick.” Turning, he started to follow Dean to go to the nurse’s office.    
  
“Two days in a row, Dean? You like seeing me that much?” Mrs. Tran seemed to roll her eyes.    
  
“You know it, Linda. I got someone knew this time. Sam?” He moved to let Sam shuffle in.    
  
“Have a seat.” Mrs. Tran motioned him to the bed.    
  
Sam sat down and looked at his lap. “I told you, I fell. My socks slipped in the kitchen and I fell into the fridge.”   
  
“Do you have anyone you would like me to call?” Mrs. Tran asked, grabbing a cold pack out of a small fridge and placing it on his face.    
  
“NO!” Sam snapped. “I’m sorry, ma’am. No, I don’t. Please don’t call my dad.” His tone calmed down to try and not raise suspicion.    
  
“If I see anything like this again, I’ll have to report it. I’m going to take your word this time.” She sighed softly. As this was the first time he had been in there, she had no reason to suspect anything, even if she did so in the back of her mind.    
  
Sam just stayed quiet. He knew he couldn’t come to school again with a mark. He knew that if cops came and checked out his house he would be taken and the chance of him having to go to yet another school would be high. Standing up, he took the ice pack with him. “Thank you, Mrs. Tran,” he said softly and turned to go to his next class, having gotten a note excusing him from the first part.    
  
Once Sam had left, Dean turned to Mrs. Tran. “Linda...Mrs. Tran, is there anything we can do for him? Anything at all?”    
  
“That was your brother, wasn’t it?” she asked, looking up from her notes.    
  
“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded. “When I saw what happened to him, I knew I had to do something. He’s wearing the same clothes as yesterday too.” You could hear the hurt in his voice. He felt helpless not being able to do anything.    
  
“You can’t help someone who doesn't want help.” It was a harsh truth, but she had a point. Sam needed to at least admit he needed help for Dean to do anything. She put a big bold note to watch out for signs of abuse with Sam. Giving Dean a note, she sent him off to class.    



	3. Who let you into the party, Losechester?

October 31st. 

 

“Cas, are you really wearing that?” Gabe snorted. “Don’t tell me...Dean is Captain America?”

Cas adjusted the sleeve he had made to look like a metal prosthetic. “Are you only asking me that because of my costume?” He raised a brow. 

“Oh my god, he is! You guys are going as Stucky?” Gabe shook his head. 

“Well, what are you going as, Gabe?” Cas snarked back. 

Going over to his closet, he pulled out a horned helmet and a scepter. “What do you think?”

“Loki? You make fun of my Bucky costume and you’re going as Loki?” Cas couldn’t understand what the big deal over his costume was. 

“In my defense, I didn’t know you were going to be the winter soldier when I got the costume. At least you aren’t Thor.” Gabe rolled his eyes and started to put the rest of his costume on his bed. “Now, can you tell me why you’re in my room and not your own?” 

“Mom asked me to check on you, said that she might need some help putting snacks out.” 

“Tell her I’ll be down soon. Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m going to this. I’m not going to know that many people. These are just going to be yours and Dean’s friends.” He sat down and started to fidget with his costume. 

“You never know, I heard Dean invited Sam.” Cas nudged his older brother. 

“Sam doesn’t even know I exist,” Gabe mumbled. 

Cas didn’t know how to respond to that. Seeing his older brother so upset about something was never fun. He decided that he would lay off picking on him about Sam. “Well, come downstairs when you can. Help us set up for tonight.” 

*****

“Dad...Sir?” Sam walked into the living room. “I was invited to a party tonight. Can I go?”

“Who invited you to a party?” John glared at him. 

“Dean,” he said. 

“Dean who?” John growled. 

“Dean Campbell, sir.” Sam looked away. He could see how upset his dad already was. 

John quickly got up and was in Sam’s face. “No. You’re staying here. I forbid you to go anywhere. Especially with him,” he mumbled the last part. 

“Sir, he’s been nothing but nice to me.” He tried to plead. “Please? I never get invited to anything,” he said as his dad started to turn. 

Pivoting, John balled up his fist and decked him in the face. “I said no!” he snarled. 

Sam dropped down to a knee and his hand shot up to his eye. Tears filled his eyes instantly. Sam got up and ran to his room. Slamming the door, he locked it. He had hit him before, but he never got him in the eye. This time, he didn’t even wait for his dad to fall asleep. He popped the screen off of the window and crawled out. The party was only a few miles away. So he figured that if he got to walking now, he would get there by the time it was starting.

*****

“You look so hot, baby.” Dean wrapped his arms around Cas’ torso. “My very own Bucky.” Smiling, he leaned in and gave him a tender kiss. 

“You’re one to talk, Dean,” Cas replied and kissed him again. 

“You guys did great on the party again this year. I always look forward to it.” He finally let Cas go when he saw Gabe in the corner rolling his eyes. 

“Get a room you two.” Gabe pushed himself off the wall and went right for the snack table. If he didn’t know anyone else there, at least he had some great snacks to distract himself with. 

Cas saw Dean look concerned at how Gabe was acting. “Leave him, he’s just mopey.” Cas moved Dean’s face to kiss him again. Right as their lips touched, there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it, sexy.” Dean winked and grabbed Cas’ ass. He walked over to the door and answered it, only for his smile to fall. “Sam? What happened to you?”

Sam’s face had a cut by his eye and it was starting to swell. “Nothing. It’s just my costume,” he said softly. “Has the party already started?”

“Ye-yeah. Come on in.” Dean stepped aside. 

“Is your costume a black eye?” Cas squinted and his head tilted some. “Dean, is this another reference I don’t get?”

“No, Cas.” Dean shook his head. “Come on, Sam. Let’s get you cleaned up.” Dean lead Sam to Cas’ room so they could have some privacy. “Sam, what happened?” Dean asked as he put a warm wet washcloth to Sam’s face. 

“All I did was ask him if I could come.” Sam hissed at the slight burn from the cloth on his cut. “He doesn’t even know I’m here. If he did…” His words trailed off. 

Dean finished cleaning him up and just looked at him sadly. “Why are you looking at me like that?” Sam raised an eyebrow. 

“I just can’t comprehend why anyone would hurt their own child.” He just shook his head. “Come on, let’s go back to the party? You look like you could use some fun.” Dean got up and waved Sam along. “Plus, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” 

Dean lead Sam back to the party. Before they could get very far, Jake and Cole stopped Sam. “Who let you into the party, Losechester?” Cole smirked. 

“Heh, good one, Cole,” Jake and Cole high fived. “We have a drink for you.” Jake stuck out a red plastic cup. Sam cautiously took it and smelled it. “Don’t you trust us, LOSEchester?”

“No, not really.” Sam shook his head. The drink didn’t smell funny so he decided to take a sip. When he tried it, he could feel the burn in the back of his throat. “What the hell is in this?” 

“Don’t be a pussy, just drink it, Losechester,” Cole said, rolling his eyes. “Here.” He grabbed Sam’s hand and raised it to his face. “Drink it.” 

Trying to resist, Sam couldn’t under the football player’s grip and as he started to tip it, the liquid went both in his mouth and down his chin and shirt. “You like to wear your drinks too?” Jake started to laugh and poured his own drink on Sam’s head. This caused Sam to jerk backward. 

“What the hell?!” he yelled, causing several people to look their way, Gabe included. 

Gabe saw that Sam was now drenched and pushed past people to get to him. “You two, out!” He pointed to the door. Dean came up to enforce this, literally dragging the pair outside. “Are you okay?” Gabe asked Sam who simply shook his head. 

“I need to go,” he said, voice barely working from a lump forming in his throat. He had never felt so humiliated.

“Not until you are cleaned up.” Gabe shook his head and lead Sam upstairs. Dean saw and followed close behind. 

“Please, I need to go.” Sam’s voice was now cracking. He didn’t want anyone to see him cry. 

“You can’t go home like this.” Dean knelt in front of him, and Gabe handed Sam a towel for his hair and shirt. “Come with me. You can stay at my place tonight. I promise you that m...my mom will let you stay. I can’t let you go back home smelling of booze. Especially if he didn’t even know you were here in the first place.”

“You’ll do that?” Gabe was concerned, seeing Sam’s eye in better lighting. 

“Sam, please?” Dean gave him huge, begging eyes. 

“Okay, yeah...sure. Tomorrow’s Saturday anyway. He’s going to be passed out till around noon. As long as I’m home before then.” Sam caved. He knew Dean was right. He couldn’t go home like this. 

“Okay.” Dean stood. “Let’s go. Let’s get you safe.” He turned to Gabe. “Thank you for bringing him up here, Gabe. I’m sorry if those douches ruined the party.” 

“It’s okay. Sam, I’ll see you on Monday in history.” Gabe sighed to himself and walked out, just to go to his room. 

Dean helped block Sam from everyone and lead him out to his car to take him to his house. He simply sent Cas a text letting him know what had happened and that he was sorry for bailing so quickly. He promised to explain more tomorrow, but it wasn’t something he wanted to do over text. 

Driving rather quickly but carefully, Dean took Sam to his house. “Dean, what are you doing home so early? I thought you were at your boyfriend’s Halloween party?” Mary had just came out of the kitchen. 

“I was. There was an incident. Mom, this is Sam Winchester. He needs a place to stay tonight,” he said as Sam walked in behind him, looking terrible. 

Mary’s eyes widened, and her smile turned into a shocked face. “Dean?”

Dean held up a finger before turning to Sam to tell him where his room was. “I’ll be right there,” he let him know. 

Sam nodded and took off, waving to Mary with a small but sad smile. Once Sam was out of earshot, Mary went right up to Dean and smacked his arm. “Are you insane?” she asked him. 

“Mom, he’s hurt. This isn’t the first time.” 

“You knew he was here and didn’t tell me?” Mary looked hurt. 

“Mom, he doesn’t know.” Dean looked down and let out a long breath. “He doesn’t know who we are. I don’t know how to tell him. But mom, he’s hurting him. Da…John, he's been hitting him.” Dean’s chin began to quiver and he sniffled. Mary pulled him into a hug and Dean let a few tears fall. “What kind of monster?” he choked out. “Please don’t tell him. Not yet. Not till we can fix this. Please?” he begged her. 

“Okay. It might kill me, but I won’t say anything. Not yet at least.” She shook her head. “Now, go fix our Sammy.” She let him go and wiped some tears off his face. 

“Thank you,” he said softly and went to go to his room to check on Sam. 

While Dean was talking to Mary, Sam had laid down on Dean’s bed and the sheer comfort alone had Sam already sleeping. He couldn’t remember the last time he laid on something this soft. Dean took off Sam’s shoes and covered him with a nice warm blanket. “Night, Sammy,” he said softly. He left the room and closed the door. “He’s already asleep,” he told his mom and laid down on the couch. 

“Then we help him in the morning. You did everything that you could. I’m proud of you, Dean,” Mary said and went over and kissed Dean on the forehead. “Get some rest. I love you.”

“I love you too, mom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ya know... I told myself, you need to have a schedule. People like schedules...Okay, I'll post one chapter a day. The fic is already done, why not. But here I am, posting again because I have 0 self-control.


	4. And Cas makes three.

The next morning, Mary had woken up early and was already in the kitchen cooking up a storm. The smells woke up Dean, and he was in the kitchen stealing bacon faster than he had ever woken up before. “What’s all this for?” he asked, mouthful of meat.   
  
“I wanted to do something nice for Sam,” she said softly and looked up with slightly saddened eyes. “I checked on him in the middle of the night, and he hadn’t even moved from how he was laying. He was so sound asleep, almost like it had been years since he’s slept like that.” Sadness was starting to push through with her words.   
  
“Don’t let him see you like this,” Dean said softly, hearing the bathroom door close. “He’s awake.” He grabbed a handful of bacon, and Mary glared at him.    
  
“You’re going to eat more than that, mister.” She pointed her spatula at him.    
  
“Morning, Mrs. Campbell,” Sam said with a sleepy voice as he shuffled into the kitchen.    
  
Part of her ached to hear her own son call her Mrs. Campbell instead of mom. But she promised Dean that she wouldn’t say anything yet. “How did you sleep, Sam?” she asked, making him a plate of everything.   
  
“Like a rock.” It was true. He hadn’t moved till the sun hit his face in the morning. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept that good.    
  
“I’m glad.” She smiled and slid the plate over to him.    
  
“This all for me?” His eyes widened.    
  
“Of course it is.” She dished up food for herself and more for Dean so he would eat something other than bacon. 

“Wow, thank you!” He was genuinely excited for the food. Most of the time the only real meal he got was at school. Otherwise, he had to just eat whatever was around. Taking the plate to the table, he started to eat rather quickly. That was until he got a weird look from Dean. “Sorry. My breakfast usually isn’t this good.” His face started to heat up, and he looked down, eating slower this time.    
  
Dean just looked over at his mom, before going back to his own food. “Crap! I need to call Cas.” Dean bolted up and ran for his phone on the charger.    
  
“So, Sam. How long have you been in town?” Mary asked.    
  
“About a month. My dad and I moved here from Texas.”    
  
“Do you like it here?” 

Sam nodded. “I do. I don’t know how long we are going to be here though. Last few places we lived at were just as bad as this one. Not saying the town is bad, the town is great. The school is super nice. But the house…” he trailed off, ashamed to go on about his living conditions with probably his only friend’s mom. 

“That lazy...he’s still sleeping. Party must have gone on late.” Dean came back and put his phone on the table. “I’ll just catch him later or something. I hope he’s not mad at me for leaving.”   
  
“How long have you two been together?” Sam asked, actually curious. He had crushes in the past, but everytime he would get the nerve to talk to someone, they would move again, so nothing ever came of it. 

“Year and a half, but we are calling each other high school sweethearts.” Dean blushed slightly, seeing a text from Cas pop up.    
  
**Cas:** Sorry I was sleeping. What’s up, babe?   
  
**Dean:** I’m sorry that I left so quick. Sam needed to get out of there and he couldn’t go home. So he crashed at my place last night.    


**Cas:** Why do you care so much? I know that he isn’t that popular, but still.   


**Dean:** I just have...well, we have things in common is all.

**Cas:** ur not gonna leave me for him, are you?  
  
**Dean:** No way! I wouldn’t dream of it. I love you, baby.

**Cas:** ok i trist you. I love you too

**Cas:** *trist

**Cas:** *turst

**Cas:** damn it 

**Cas:** T R U S T

**Dean:** lol! I love you so much.

Everyone finished breakfast. Dean thought it was nice that the three of them were able to share a meal. Seeing the smile on his brother’s face warmed his heart. He just wished that he could see that more often. He honestly couldn’t remember in the month that he knew him, ever seeing him smile. 

*****

Gabe was leaning against his hand, slowly stirring his cereal as it became soggy. “Gabe? What’s wrong? Didn’t you have fun last night?” Cas sat down at the table with him, trying to read Gabe’s expressions.    
  
“I finally got to talk to Sam last night,” he said in a rather monotone voice.

“That’s great! You should be happy...Why aren’t you happy?” his shoulders fell.

“Because he was so upset and I couldn’t do anything about it. I doubt he will even remember me talking to him. I said like two words to him.” He dropped the spoon, causing it to clank against the bowl and his face dove into his hands. 

“I’m sure he’ll remember you.” Cas tried to assure him. Honestly, he had no idea if Sam was going to or not. But for Gabe’s sake and sanity, he prayed he did. “Do you know why Dean is taking a special interest in him? He said he’s not going to leave me for him. But you know how nervous I get.”

Gabe went silent, just moving his fingers slowly to look at his brother. “I’d just trust him.” 

“Wait...you know something. What do you know? How come I don’t know?” Cas practically slapped the table. As if he was saved by the bell, Gabe quickly got up when he heard the doorbell ring.    
  
“I got it!” He took off running for the front door. “Dean-o! Cas, your lover is here!” He moved so Dean could come in. “How’s Sam?” Gabe asked softly before Cas could get there.

“I had to take him back home. I didn’t want to, but he insisted.” Dean let out a sigh that was quickly replaced by a smile from seeing Cas. “Hey, baby.” Dean moved to give him a long and tender kiss.

“Gross.” Gabe just shook his head and went to the living room, forgetting all about his almost untouched breakfast. 

“We should talk. There’s something you need to know.” Dean also lead Cas to the living room, and they took over the couch, practically pushing Gabe over to a recliner. 

“What’s going on? Why so serious all of a sudden?” Cas’ face was riddled with confusion. 

“It’s about Sam,” Dean started to say.

“Well, hot damn. You’re actually going to tell him?” Gabe perked up, now interested in the conversation. 

“Shut up, Gabe. So you remember how I told you I have a dad and brother somewhere out there. I don’t really remember them, but I knew their names. Mom doesn’t like to talk about it. But I always wanted to find my brother. I found him. Sam is my brother. And it’s really obvious that he doesn’t know about me and mom.” Saying that never got any easier. It felt like each time he had to admit that the hole in his heart got bigger and bigger.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that...wait, Gabe...you knew? You told him before you told me?” Cas felt hurt. 

“I told him after I pegged him with a dodgeball. He needed to know why I did it. I wanted to tell you in person, but it just hasn’t come up yet. This wasn’t something that I wanted to say over text or a call.” Dean sighed again. 

“That’s crazy, I mean, you’ve wanted to find him for how long? Just for him to randomly show up one day. How are you handling it? How does it not eat you up not to tell him?” Cas asked.

“It’s hard. I’m not going to lie. I want to know him better, but I don’t want to scare him away.”    
  
“I’ll be here no matter what, Dean. I promise.” 


	5. It’s Thanksgiving, Samshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Schedule? What' a schedule?

Empty bottles filled the living room. More than usual it seemed. “Yup, it’s November alright,” Sam mumbled to himself and started to clean up the mess. 

“Sam, bring me another one.” John shook the empty bottle. 

“We’re out, sir,” he said and kept picking them up, putting them in a large trash bag. 

“Bullshit we’re out!” John got up, bottle in hand and stepped to Sam. He smashed the bottle on the ground and used his now free hand to punch Sam in the gut. Sam grabbed his stomach and fell to his knees. 

“Sir, please don’t,” Sam managed to get out right before John kicked him hard. Knowing he either just broke or really bruised one of his ribs, he tried to crawl away. Kicking him again, Sam fell on the floor, hand slipping on some broken glass. 

“I’ll just get it myself,” John said then literally spit on Sam’s back. “Fucking useless kid.”

Sam used the time that John was looking for a beer to scramble up and go to his room. It took all of two minutes for him to lock his door, wrap his cut hand, and escape out the window. With only a light sweatshirt for warmth, he started to make his way down the street, ending up at an empty park. Trying to hold in his tears, he finally lost it after a few minutes alone on a swing. 

Sam had been on that swing for about an hour when a car pulled up. He just raised the hood up and shoved his hands in the large pocket as he shivered harshly. Having his arms hooked around the chains of the swing, he made it move to make it seem like he meant to be out there.    
  
Having seen Sam on a supply run, Gabe got out of his car and slowly approached him. He didn’t want to spook him and have him run away. “Sam?” Gabe’s voice was soft as he sat on the swing next to him. 

Sam jumped slightly and looked away to wipe his face. “Oh, hey.” His voice cracked.

“What are you doing out in the cold? Aren’t you doing anything for Thanksgiving?” Gabe saw him shiver badly so he took off his coat and put it over Sam’s shoulders.    
  
“It’s Thanksgiving? Oh, right, forgot.” Sam sniffled.    
  
“Are you doing anything special for dinner?” He sat back down, still looking at him.   


Sam reached in his pocket and held out a half eaten candy bar. He quickly realized that was the hand he had to wrap and shoved it back in his pocket. Shaking his head, he finally looked at Gabe. 

Meeting Sam’s eyes made Gabe’s heart skip and he let out an uneven breath. “Come to my place,” he said without any hesitation. “We can get your hand fixed up. It’s warm. We have plenty of food. Please? No one should be alone on Thanksgiving.” 

Sam felt defeated. Why was he being so nice when the last time he tried to talk to him, all Sam did was ignore him? But looking at him, there was a genuine look of concern in his eyes. “I’m not used to anyone being around when things get bad,” Sam said softly.    
  
“This happens a lot, doesn’t it?” Gabe stood up again. “You don’t need to answer that.” He held out his hand. “Let’s get you out of the cold.” 

Sam’s gaze followed him and he swallowed thickly. He nodded and took Gabe’s hand to stand, instantly getting nervous about it. “Thank you,” he said as they walked to Gabe’s car. 

Before Sam got in, he handed Gabe his coat back with a small smile. He took it and got in to drive him to his house. “So, which one is your house?” Gabe asked as they pulled away from the park. 

“That one,” Sam said and pointed to a house with boarded-up windows. 

“I thought that place was condemned.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Sam mumbled and sat back.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend...you.” Gabe was now kicking himself for making Sam feel bad.

Once they got to his place, Gabe grabbed the bags of drinks he had to go get and motioned for Sam to follow. “Bout time!” Cas exclaimed. “What took you so long?”

Gabe didn’t answer, instead, he just stepped aside and let Sam come into the house. “He was alone and cold. I wasn’t about to leave him out there,” Gabe said and had to excuse himself for a minute after handing off the bag to his mom.

“I’ll be right back, too,” Cas said and followed him “Gabe, wait.” 

Gabe sat down on his bed and had to take several deep breaths to calm down. “Cas, his hand needs to be looked at. Can you tell mom?” It was hard to talk with the lump in his throat. 

“Yeah, I’ll tell mom. Are you going to be okay?”

Gabe shrugged. He was starting to understand how Dean must feel when he heard that Sam was being hit by his dad. “He was so cold. He didn’t even remember it was Thanksgiving. All he had was half a candy bar...Cas, it wasn’t even a good candy bar! Who in their right mind would eat a Mounds? That doesn’t even  _ sound  _ good...Mounds.” Gabe shivered. 

“You really care about him, don’t you?” Cas had been so used to picking on him about Sam that he didn’t even stop to think that Gabe had actually developed real feelings for him.    
  
Gabe just nodded. “Seeing him out there, I just wanted to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay.” Gabe looked up at his brother with glossy eyes. 

“He’s safe now. I’ll go make sure his hand gets looked at.” Cas turned and left leaving Gabe alone again to finish calming down. 

“Mom?” Cas went looking for her. 

“Yes, dear?” Hester poked her head out of the kitchen. 

Going closer to her so he didn’t make a scene, Cas let her know about Sam’s hand. “Okay, go get him and I’ll take a look.”    
  
Cas went to find Sam who was sitting at the table by a yapping Dean and Mary. “Hey, Sam? Got a second?” Cas waved him over. Sam quietly snuck away to see what he wanted. “Can my mom look at your hand? Gabe said you were hurt.”   
  
“It’s nothing, Cas,” Sam replied softly. 

“Please? I know that Gabe would feel better knowing you were okay.”   
  
Sam’s face heated up slightly, and he just looked down before following Cas to get his hand looked at. 

Hester cleaned up his hand with some over the counter antiseptic. “Well, good news is, I don’t think you will need any stitches. Bad news is, it’s going to be tender for a while,” she let him know.    
  
“Thank you, ma’am,” Sam finally spoke again. “Thank you for letting me stay for dinner.”

“Any friend of my boy’s is welcome here any time.” She gave him a small hug. She backed away after she felt him wince. “Are you hurt somewhere else?” 

Finding someone he could trust was hard, but he didn’t know why, but he felt safe there. With his uninjured hand, he lifted his shirt and pointed to a forming bruise. 

“Hey, mom? Do you need any help?” Gabe asked, finally surfacing again. He froze mid step, seeing Sam’s shirt up. Amber eyes widened and he slowly started to back up. “I’ll just...I’m just gonna...I gotta go,” he stammered and left in a cartoon like fashion. 

“Did I do something?” Sam was confused as to why Gabe would just leave like that. 

“No, dear. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Hester smiled and took a large wrap from her first aid kit to wrap around his torso. She called it good and let him go to find a chair for dinner. 


	6. Haaaaave you met Gabe?

After dinner, Sam settled down on the couch to halfway watch football with Mr. Krushnic. Gabe stood against a wall by the kitchen, slowly eating pie and trying not to look creepy watching Sam. “Go talk to him,” Cas said, having been standing by Gabe without him even noticing.    
  
“Son of a…” Gabe jumped. “I almost dropped my pie, you asshat. Plus, I don’t even know if he’s even interested.”   
  
“You won’t till you try. Come on, I’ll be right with you.” Cas literally pulled Gabe’s arm and dragged him into the living room. “Hey Sam, haaaaave you met Gabe?” Cas asked and pushed Gabe on to the couch next to Sam and took off before Gabe could even argue with him.    
  
“Hey, Samshine. Want some pie?” He held out the fork for him.    


Sam looked over, blushed slightly and shook his head. “No thank you,” he said and looked back at the tv. 

“You know,” Gabe started to talk, putting the plate on the coffee table so he didn’t have to hold it. “I never got to apologize for our first gym class.” 

Sam looked over at him again, this time confused. “What do you mean?” 

“The only reason I aimed for you is because Dean is with my brother and I would have never heard the end of it. If he wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have hit you at all.” Gabe smiled shyly.

“Because I was the new kid?”

Gabe shook his head. “No, that’s not it.” 

“Oh...okay.” Sam had a feeling he knew what the reason was, even if he didn’t want to admit it. It wouldn’t be the first guy who had a crush on him. But the last time Sam even remotely showed any interest in a guy, his dad found out and nearly broke his arm. As much as he would like to see Gabe that way, part of his mind was screaming that it was wrong. 

“Hey, Samshine, you should smile more.” Gabe nudged him. “You have cute dimples.” Sam couldn’t help but smile at his nudge. At the sight of Sam’s dimples, Gabe reached up and poked one. “That’s better. Smiling suits you.”   
  
“My home life isn’t much to smile about. It’s nothing like Dean’s, and it sure as hell ain’t this.” Sam motioned to all the people smiling and laughing. “I bet you my dad is passed out on the floor, drunk as a skunk.” The thought of having to even go back home, made Sam’s stomach hurt. 

“Don’t think about him. He’s not here. You are, and that’s what matters.” Gabe looked over and met Sam’s gaze with a genuine smile. 

His smile only caused Sam to smile even wider. After some more talking, Sam’s internal struggle was just getting worse.  _ No, dad would kill me. I can’t.  _ “It’s getting late. Can I get a ride home? I should be there when he wakes up.” Sam stood up. 

“Yeah, I can give you a ride.” Gabe followed him and let his mom know what was going on. Everyone took turns saying goodbye to Sam before they left. 

“Are you sure you want to go in there?” Gabe asked once they were there.

“I have to.” Sam sighed and looked over to Gabe, not getting out yet. “I really enjoyed our talk. It was good to talk to someone who is really nice. Not like Jake or Cole.”

“Don’t let those jerks get you down, Samshine.” Gabe leaned against the center console and booped Sam’s nose.

“You’re really great, you know that?” Sam chuckled softly.

Sitting up more, Gabe reached and brushed some of Sam’s long hair from his face. This made chills spread throughout Sam’s body. “There’s that smile again,” Gabe practically whispered and started to lean in. Sam seemed to be sucked into the pull and found himself now inches from Gabe’s face. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” Sam said quickly and opened the door. With a mixed look of fear and remorse on his face, he shook his head. “I’m so sorry.” He got out and rushed around the house to his bedroom window to climb back in. 

The second Sam was out of sight, Gabe hit his steering wheel and fell forward. “Fuck!” he cursed loudly to himself. Composing himself, he started his car again and drove back home.

“How did it go?” Cas bounced up to him. 

Gabe reached out and grabbed his shirt. “I am never taking your advice ever again,” he said with an angrier tone than he meant to have. After staring his brother down for a bit, he finally let him go and stomped off to his room, slamming and locking the door.

“What did I do?” Cas looked over at Dean confused. He honestly thought their talk had gone well, at least what he heard of it. “They seemed to be hitting it off. I don’t know what happened.”

“Relax, baby. I’ll go talk to him.” Dean gave Cas a kiss and went to Gabe’s room. “Hey, Gabe, can I come in?” Dean asked, lightly knocking on Gabe’s door.   
  
“Go away, Dean. I don’t want to talk to you about your stupid brother.” His voice sounded mumbled. 

Dean took out his wallet and pulled out his driver’s license to unlock Gabe’s door. “I think we need to talk, please,” he said, sliding the card in the crack and popping the lock. 

“I said, go away.” Gabe rolled over on his bed to face the other way. 

“You don’t need to look at me. That’s fine. But can you please tell me what happened?” Dean closed the door and sat on the desk chair. 

“I took my stupid brother’s advice and I actually talked to Sam. We had a great conversation, with smiling and laughing and a great time. I went to take him home. We talked some more, and I thought we were going to have a moment. But he said he couldn’t. Then he got out and ran off. How could I be so stupid to think that he would be interested in me?” Dean couldn’t see, but silent tears ran down Gabe’s cheeks. 

“Cas said it sounded like you two really hit it off. What if he was just nervous? I know I was with Cas.” 

“He said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t.’ You didn’t see the look in his eyes, Dean. He didn’t look nervous, he looked scared. SCARED! That’s the same look I got the last time I fell for a straight guy. They were scared...of me.” Gabe sniffled hard. 

Dean sighed. “Please don’t give up. You said you guys almost had a moment, right? That takes two people. Gabe, just please promise me you won’t give up. I did see how he looked at you. I’m not blind.” Dean stood back up to go.

“I saw it too. I won’t. It just hurt,” Gabe mumbled. 

*****

“Sir?” Sam came out of his room and looked around for his dad. “Dad?” He finally found him in the kitchen, attempting to boil some noodles for mac and cheese. “Sir, can I talk to you?”

“Make it quick, I’m tryin’ to cook.” 

“Sir, how do I say this…”

“Quickly, that’s how,” John grumbled.

“There is someone I think I’m starting to get feelings for and I…”

“What’s her name?” he looked over at Sam quickly.   
  
“About that, is it really  _ that _ bad if I like a guy?” Sam asked very nervously.

“A WHAT?!” John yelled, hand gripping the handle to the pot tightly. 

“A g-guy,” Sam repeated and backed up slowly a few steps. 

“My son? A queer? I thought I raised you better than that!” He started to breathe hard and without even thinking his arm rotated and the boiling water came flying at Sam.

Quickly and out of instinct, Sam’s arm came up to block his face. The scalding water still managed to hit his arm and chest, sending him to the floor, screaming in agony.

“No son of mine is going to be a faggot,” John slurred and left the kitchen to go lay back down. 

Sam was shaking from the pain. His dad never left his phone out of his sight, so Sam had no one to call. Stumbling to stand up, he went to the bathroom to start a cool shower to try and help with the sting. Once it had subsided to the point where his tears weren’t constantly falling, he went to bed, passing out almost instantly from exhaustion.


	7. How dare you touch my brother!

“Dean, have you...have you seen Sam?” Gabe asked softly as he sat down across from him at lunch. “It’s been almost a week and I haven’t seen him.” 

Dean noticed that Gabe didn’t have any lunch. This was the second day in a row. “No, I haven’t. How about after school the three of us go check on him? But  _ only  _ if you go get food. It’s upsetting, I know. But you need to eat.”

Gabe sighed and got up to go grab a light lunch. His stomach hurt from stress so anything more would be too much. 

“I’m sorry I made plans on a whim like that, baby,” Dean said to Cas after Gabe left.

“It’s okay. I’m worried too.” Cas leaned against Dean’s shoulders. “I think it will put Gabe’s mind at ease to see him.”

After school, Dean setup that they would take two cars. “You guys follow me so if you need to get out fast you can. We are gonna park across the street and wait for John to leave. He is the last person we need to encounter right now.” 

They got in their respective cars and took off to wait. Leaning down so he was hardly noticed, Dean scoped out the house for movement. 

**Dean:** I think I see something. Hopefully won’t be long now. 

**Cas:** Are we staying out here or going to the door with you?

**Dean:** Best you guys stay out here. We don’t need him feeling like this is an ambush.

**Cas:** Gabe has a point, he said this practically is an ambush.

**Dean:** u kno what I mean

**Cas:** Get down. He’s leaving.

Dean slid all the way down in the seat. He wasn’t sure why, not like John knew what he looked like or anything. 

**Cas:** Ok go! He’s gone, turned the block.

With that okay, Dean got out and rushed across the street to knock on the door. 

“I just realized, isn’t this that condemned house?” Cas asked Gabe while he watched Dean waiting.

“That’s what I said,” Gabe answered softly. “I looked it up, it is. No one should even be living there.” The sheer sadness in Gabe’s voice was the exact reason he insisted on coming to check on Sam.

“Come on, answer,” Dean said softly before banging on the door again. 

Sam slowly made his way to the door, tugging the almost too short sleeves of his sweatshirt down. “Dean? What are you doing here?” Sam asked, seeing him at the door. 

“You haven’t been at school. Came to make sure you were okay. Can I come in?”

Sam debated letting him in for a moment but eventually nodded his head and stepped aside. 

“He’s in,” Cas said. “This is a good sign. Sam let him in.”

“Good,” Gabe said with an airy breath, and the pair sat back to look out for John.

“So, are you not feeling well?” Dean asked, looking around. He made a mental note at the badly cracked walls and what he could only assume was black mold.

“You could say that,” Sam started to walk down the small hall to his room, Dean following not too far behind. 

“Please don’t tell me this is where you sleep.” Dean saw the twin mattress on the floor and the thin blanket that could pass off as a sheet.

“Okay, I won’t tell you then.” Sam sat down on the mattress. “I haven’t been to school because it hurts to move my arm, and my dad won’t give me a note to get out of gym.”

“Sam?” Dean sat on the floor near him. “Why does it hurt to move your arm?”

Sam went silent. Looking down, big eyes filled with tears. “I’ll show you, but you can’t freak out okay?”

Dean reluctantly agreed. Sam carefully pulled off his sweatshirt and held out his slowly healing forearm. “It’s not just there,” he said and raised his shirt to show the spots on his chest that hadn’t fully healed yet either. “On Thanksgiving, I asked him a question he didn’t like, and he threw boiling water on me.” He put his shirt back down and started to put his sweatshirt back on.

Dean was silently counting in his head to calm down. This is the worst he had heard of John doing. “What was the question? You know what, it doesn’t matter. Just can you get your things? I’m getting you out of here. You’re going to come stay with me and mo…my mom.” Dean stood back up. “We leave in five if he doesn’t get back first.”

Sam was getting the chance to get out? To not have to worry? He grabbed his backpack and shoved all of his clothes in it. It saddened Dean to see that they all fit with his books. He made another mental note to get him more clothes. “Cas and Gabe are across the street. Get in their car and tell them I said to take you to my house. I won’t be that far behind,” Dean instructed him. 

Without hesitation, Sam left the house and got in the back seat. “Dean said to take me to his place.”

“Is he coming?” Cas asked.

Sam nodded. “Said he would be right behind us.” 

That was good enough for Cas. He started up the car and they took off. Once at Dean’s place, Sam sat in the living room and had a chance to get a better look around. He saw what looked like a photo album on a bookshelf and couldn’t help but be nosey and look. Some of the pictures had a very familiar feeling to them. He stopped at a very old one and he swore the man in the picture looked just like his dad.  _ No, couldn’t be. _ He kept going. The more he saw the man, the more and more he looked like him. He stopped cold near the end when he saw a picture that he knew for a fact was in his dad’s room. He closed the photo album quickly and put it back. He sat back and his mind went crazy.

Shortly after Cas and Gabe had taken off with Sam, John showed back up home. “Sam, bring in the beer. I gotta drain the lizard.”

Dean heard John’s voice and stopped him in the hall. “Think again, douchebag,” Dean said and grabbed John by the shirt, slamming him against the wall. “How  _ dare _ you touch my brother!” 

“Hello to you too, son.” John tried to push away. “Where is Sam? He has things to bring in.”

“He’s not here. He will never  _ be  _ here again. He’s safe away from you.” Dean wasn’t about to let up on his hold.

“You can’t take away my son. I’m the only family he knows.” 

That thought has always angered Dean from the moment he realized it the first time. But to hear John say it made it worse. One knee came up and got John in the crotch, sending him down to the ground with a loud, thud. “Not for long, he doesn’t. If I see you even look at Sam again, I’m calling the cops.” Dean simply turned around to go. 

John reached out and grabbed his ankle, pulling him hard enough to trip him and bring him down. Dean used his free leg to kick John’s hand off of him. Once his ankle was free, he started to scramble up again to get away. John beat him getting up and as soon as they were at the same level, his fist came out and got Dean in the face. “No one does that to me and gets away with it!” John spit at Dean. “You’re going to let my son be a faggot, aren’t you?!”

“So  _ you’re _ the reason he is afraid to be himself.” Dean rubbed his face. He didn’t fight back because he knew being 18 he could go to jail and he didn’t want to do that to his mom or Sam. 

“That’s not my son. No son of mine is going to be a faggot.” John got him again in the same spot and Dean started to back up to the door. 

“Good, then neither of us are your sons anymore.” His hand came back up to his face. “Because I am in love with the most wonderful guy, and there is nothing you can do about it.” 

John started to charge at Dean but he took off running for the door. When he opened it, he got lucky and it smacked John in the face, giving him enough time to take off across the street to get in his car and leave. 

Once he was back home, he went right to the kitchen and grabbed an ice pack for his face. “Sam?” He called out, only to see him in the living room alone. “Where’s Cas and Gabe?” 

“They said they were going to the store real quick.” He looked up at Dean. “Why do you guys have pictures of my dad? How do you know him?” He pointed to the album.

Dean sat next to him on the couch. Now was as good of a time as any to tell him. “Because he’s my dad too.”   
  
“That means I’m your...we’re?” Sam wasn't sure how to take this news. He was starting to get overwhelmed by emotion.

Dean nodded. “Yeah, Sammy, I’m your brother.”

“And your mom?” Sam could feel a large lump form in his throat. 

“She’s your mom too.” He took the ice pack off his face. “I’ve known your name my whole life. I’ve tried to find you many times. You can ask Cas. I never stopped looking. The day I heard you were at the same school as me was one of the happiest days I have had in a long time. But I was crushed to know you didn’t know who I was.” 

“Dad never...I didn’t…” Sam looked down, and a tear fell on his hand. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t know how. But you’re my brother, and I will  _ never  _ let you get hurt by him again.” 

Sam sniffled hard and nodded. This was a lot to take in. He didn’t know where to start. He looked up at the sound of the door, only to see Mary come in. Slowly, he got up and walked over to the unexpecting woman and gave her a hug. “Oh...” Mary said and hugged him back. 

Feeling her warm embrace only made Sam cry harder. “You’re really my mom?” he choked out

Overcome with relief that Sam finally knew, she just hugged him more soundly. “Yes, Sammy,” she said softly. 

“Mom, he can’t go back. Please don’t let him go back,” Dean wiped his face. 

“Sammy, you can stay here as long as you want,” Mary said softly. “I promise.”


	8. Come on, Gabe. There’s gonna be snacks.

December 17th

It was the last week before winter break and Dean was at lunch plotting with Cas. “Baby, when we got Sam out of John’s house, he said something that really bothered me.”

“What was that?” Cas asked, tilting his head. 

“He called Sam a...man, I hate this word, a faggot,” he whispered the last word. 

“Seriously? What a jerk.”

“Sam said the reason he hit him with the water is that he asked something he didn’t like. What if he asked about being gay?”

“You think John is the reason that he and Gabe haven’t…”

Dean nodded and softly held a finger to his mouth because he saw Gabe coming. “Follow my lead...Hey, Gabe.” Dean smiled as the older Krushnic sat down. “Going to the meeting tonight?”

“What meeting?” he asked, taking a bite of his lunch.

“The one your brother and I lead  _ every  _ third Tuesday of the month?” Dean gave him a look that read as ‘Duh!’

“Oh...that meeting...no, I don’t think so.” He shook his head. 

“Come on, Gabe. There’s gonna be snacks, and you never know, maybe you’ll meet someone,” Cas added.

“Snacks?” Gabe looked up. “Not worth it. Plus, I don’t want to  _ meet someone. _ ” He mocked Cas. He honestly felt he already did but completely blew it. 

“What if I promised you there would be donuts from Trickster’s?”

“Tempting. I’ll think about it.” Gabe softly sighed and went back to his lunch.    
  
*****   


During gym class, they had to run the mile. But because of the winter climate, they were stuck inside doing laps in the gym. Dean saw Sam ahead of him and moved faster to catch up and run beside him. “Hey, bro.”

“That still sounds so weird,” Sam said, looking over as they ran. 

“I wanted to invite you to a club of mine. We have our monthly meeting tonight. There’s going to be snacks, and you can meet some awesome new people. Since you are going to be able to stay here through graduation, might be nice to make some more friends. Plus, I can promise you this group is amazing.” 

“Are you just saying that because you lead it?” Sam raised an eyebrow. 

“Well, I know  _ I’m  _ awesome. But...please? You don’t have to go to it again if you don’t like it. Just one meeting is all I ask.”

Sam sighed softly. “What kind of meeting?”

“Gay-straight alliance,” Dean didn’t hesitate to say.

“No way.” Sam actually stopped and moved aside. 

“Why not?” Dean followed him.

“Because even being curious is what got me hurt in the first place. Why would I broadcast that?” he said in hushed tones. 

“Because it’s a safe place. Zero tolerance for hate. No one there is going to judge you. I won’t even make you talk.” Dean’s eyes plead with him. He really wanted him to go. 

“Okay, fine. One meeting. That’s all you get,” he said and started to run again. 

“That’s all I ask, Sammy.” 

*****

Dean and Sam were the first ones there. Dean had gotten the promised donuts on the way and put them down next to some drinks on a table on the far side of the room.    
  
“How many people tend to show up to this? You bought a lot of donuts.” Sam looked at the six boxes of various donuts.   
  
“We average about 15 each meeting depending on the weather and various sports.” Dean turned once everything was laid out. “Thank you for coming. It means a lot.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Sam rubbed the back of his neck. 

It didn’t take long for people to start showing up. Dean happily welcomed everyone and pointed to the snacks. The more people showed up, the more nervous Sam was getting. He didn’t know any of these people. 

“I can’t believe you dragged me here,” Gabe whined to Cas as they got closer to the room. “You owe me huge for this.”

“Yeah yeah, you can kick my ass later.” Cas rolled his eyes.

Gabe got to the door of the classroom and froze. What the hell was Sam doing there? “No,” Gabe said and shook his head. “No way, I don’t care how good those donuts are. You can’t make me.”

“Just go in, ya assbutt,” Cas grumbled and literally pushed Gabe into the room.    
  
“Hey, baby.” Dean went right to Cas and kissed him. “Right on time. We are about to start.” 

Gabe looked around for an empty seat, any empty chair that wasn’t right next to Sam. He was too late. The last one was already taken so he shuffled over and sat next to him. “Hey, Samshine.”

Sam blushed slightly and gave him a little wave with a now shy smile on his face. “Your brother drag you here too?” he asked quietly to which he got a small head nod as a response. 

“Welcome, everyone. I am so happy to see regulars returning and to see several new faces. Today I want to get serious and talk about discrimination. It happens to all of us. Gay, straight, bi, ace, pan...I could go on. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You should be proud to like who you want. Does anyone here have a story about discrimination they have faced and how you overcame it?” Dean opened the meeting. 

Several people stood and gave their stories. The more that people talked, the more Sam started to understand that he wasn’t alone. Dean was right. This was a safe place. One story, in particular, hit him hard when one of the girls, Charlie, talked about getting kicked out of her house because she brought her girlfriend over for dinner. Knowing that she moved on and into her aunt's house who loved her for who she was, gave Sam the courage to stand up. 

“When I was nine, I told my dad that I thought my friend Brady was really cute.” Sam swallowed hard. “That night he almost broke my arm. From then on out he drilled into my head that being gay was wrong. That I had to be with a girl. He was so happy when I brought a girl home in junior high. Even though I didn’t have strong feelings for her. Sure, Jess was pretty. But I still couldn’t help but remember Brady. After we moved again, I stopped talking about my crushes all together in fear that he would hurt me again.” He sniffled softly. “That was until this last Thanksgiving. I thought I’d try again and talk to him about it. I asked if it would really be that wrong to like a guy. He called me a faggot and threw boiling water on me. Thankfully, Dean got me out of there. Thank you.” Sam blinked hard a few times, looking up. “I’ll be right back,” he said and left the room. 

Gabe hung on every word of Sam’s story. It all made so much sense now. When Sam left, Dean stood to follow him, but Gabe flailed up also. “Let me go, Dean-o,” he said quickly and left before Dean could stop him. He found Sam down the hall, sitting on the floor. Just like at the park, he walked up to him slowly. “This seat taken?” he asked.

Sam shook his head and wiped his eyes. Gabe sat down next to him. “It’s okay to cry. No one will make fun of you for crying.” 

“I’m sorry,” Sam said with a small squeak, looking over at him. “You must hate me for what I did, running off like that.”

Gabe shook his head, using the pad of his thumb to wipe Sam’s tears away. “I don’t hate you, Samshine. I kinda hate your dad. Okay, I  _ really  _ hate your dad. But I don’t think I could ever hate you.” 

Sam’s breath skipped, and without thinking, he leaned in and did what he really wanted to do on Thanksgiving. He kissed Gabe. 

Gabe instantly kissed him back, hand slowly rising to cup the side of Sam’s face softly. His kiss felt like lightning shooting throughout his whole body. When Sam finally pulled away, Gabe couldn’t open his eyes for a few moments. “Whoa,” he breathed. 

“Yeah…whoa...” Sam agreed. “Never thought my first kiss would feel like that,” he admitted softly. Gabe’s kiss had left him a little dizzy but in a good way.

Gabe opened his eyes again. “I was your first kiss?”

Sam blushed hard and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Can I be your second kiss too?” 

Sam smiled and nodded again. “I’d like that.”

Gabe leaned back in and kissed him again, this time slowly. “I really like you, Samalam.”   
  
“How many nicknames have you thought of for me already?” Sam asked with a slight chuckle.

“Well, Samshine, Samalam, Doe-eyes, Hazelnut, cause of the color of your eyes, Sammy-kins, Sammoose, Sammich, Samsquatch, and my favorite...kitten.” Gabe smiled and blushed some. 

“Kitten?” Sam shook his head with a large smile on his face. “Wait, you have all those nicknames for me already, and we’re not even dating.” He playfully nudged Gabe. 

“We could be,” Gabe suggested, nonchalantly. 

Sam stood and held out his hand. “You’re right, we  _ could  _ be...”

Gabe took his hand to stand. “I feel a ‘but’ coming along.”

“But you haven’t asked me yet.” Sam didn’t let go of his hand.

“Oh...OH! Sam, would you want to go out with me?” Gabe asked, looking down and sounding shy.

Sam kissed his cheek. “Yes, Gabe. I would.”

Gabe’s blush returned. “Let’s go back to the meeting.” Holding Sam’s hand, they started to walk back to the meeting. “Oh, I thought of another one, Samsung... Sama-allama-ding-dong? ” Gabe snorted. 

“Okay, that last one is a bit much.” Sam had to stop before they got even more ridiculous. It didn’t take long for Dean to notice them still holding hands as they sat down again. He smacked Cas lightly and secretly pointed to them with a smile. 

“‘Bout time,” Cas whispered to Dean.

“I know, right? My plan worked.” Dean felt very proud of himself at that moment. 


	9. Wake up, Sam. It’s Christmas.

School was out for break and Sam was sitting at home, trying not to look sad.

“Hey, Sammy. What’s wrong?” Mary sat down next to him.

“It’s almost Christmas,” he said softly.

“That’s supposed to make you happy.” She looked confused. 

“This is going to be my first real Christmas...and I can’t get you guys anything.” 

Mary smiled, got up and went to her purse. “I was going to wait for this weekend but here.” She came back with a card. 

“What’s this?” He asked and took it. The moment he opened it and saw how much money she put in it, his eyes widened. “No, I couldn’t...this is too much.” He tried to give it back.

“Sweetheart. I’m your  _ mom _ I’m supposed to spoil you like this. Please, use it how you want.”   
  
“Well, besides you and Dean there is one other person I’d want to get a gift for.” Sam smiled and started to blush. 

“Got yourself a crush?” Mary teased.

“Actually...I think we’re a thing. It’s all so new to me, hard to tell.” His smile was unwavering. 

“Well, let’s figure it out. First, what’s their name?” She asked.

It was so refreshing to Sam not to hear ‘her’. She said ‘their.’ “Gabriel.” 

“As in Gabriel Krushnic? Excellent choice, he’s very nice. Now, do you two hold hands? Kiiiiss?” She teased some more.

Sam nodded. “Yeah, we do.” His face was turning even brighter red, crimson even.

“Then you go and get your man a gift for Christmas. I’ll even take you to the mall. Sit out in the car not to embarrass you and everything. Grab your coat, let’s go.” She gave him a quick hug and got up. “I mean it, mister! Let’s go.” 

Sam hopped up and grabbed the winter coat Dean had bought for him. It fit him so well and he felt so great in it. Following his mom, he went to the car and she drove him to the mall. “I’ll be right here when you’re done,” she let him know and he took off to go buy gifts. 

Sam went from store to store looking at everything, trying to pick the perfect gifts for everyone. He found a great smelling candle at bath and body works for his mom, and the video game Dean had been talking about for weeks. Gabe, on the other hand, was proving to be difficult to find the perfect gift for. As he walked and browsed, two familiar faces came up to him. “Hey, Losechester, you lost?” Cole stepped up to him.

“That’s right, they don’t let losers into the mall,” Jake added. 

“Well, they let you two in, didn’t they? So they must have changed that rule.” Sam just rolled his eyes and pushed past them. 

“Did he?”

“He did…Hey! No one makes fun of us and gets away with it!” Jake called out.

“Remind me to tell my boyfriend to kick your asses. I’m not a violent person, but if he found out that you guys are still bullying me, he wouldn’t be too happy,” Sam said, walking backward. 

“Oh! Look at you, got yourself a boyfriend, you gigantic twink!” Cole hollered. 

Sam stopped and walked back to them. “Do you two make fun of me because you guys really have deep seated feelings for each other and are too far in the closet to even notice?” He tilted his head and squinted slightly. Their silence was golden. “That’s what I thought. So, if you two are done wasting my time, I have some shopping to do.” Sam just turned around and kept walking. “Oh,” he said, turning back for a second. “The gay-straight alliance meets the third Tuesday of every month,” he added before veering off into a candy store.

With all three gifts now in hand, he found someone wrapping gifts and he took them over to get them wrapped. “This one is for my mom, this is for my brother, and can you make this just say, ‘To, Gabe, From Your Samshine’?” He asked putting a five pound gummy bear on the table. 

Once his gifts were wrapped, he realized he still had some money he didn’t know what to do with. While walking back to the car, he thought about what to do before it dawned on him. “Mom? Can we go to a grocery store? There’s a few things I want to get from there,” Sam asked when he got back in the car. 

“Sure.” Mary didn’t even question it. She just assumed that Sam knew what he was doing. 

Having only about $20 or so left to spend, he didn’t take long in the store. Coming back out with several bags, he put them in the trunk. “One more stop? Please?” 

“Where to?” Mary started up the car again.

All Sam did was give her an address of a place he had been to a few times when he was still living with his dad. When she pulled up, Sam looked over at her. “Will you help me with the bags? It's mostly canned goods.” He got out of the car to get them. With his mom’s help, they took the bags inside. 

“Sam!” A woman’s voice was heard. “It’s so good to see you again. We were getting worried about you.” 

“I’m fine, Donna. Is Jody here too? This time I’m bringing food instead of needing it.” He held up the bags. 

Donna smiled. “Yeah, you betcha. Jody-o! Sam’s here!” she called out. 

“Sam!” Jody came out and gave him a hug. 

“Jody, Donna, this is my mom.” It felt so good to say that. “We brought food.” 

“This is a blessing, thank you.” Jody took the bags and started to put the cans on their respective shelves. 

“Thank you guys, for everything. You helped me so much. It was the least I could do,” Sam said then helped with the last bag. Once everything was put away, they said their goodbyes, and Sam and his mom left to go back home. 

“That was a very selfless act you just did, Sam. I’m very proud of you,” Mary said happily.

“It’s Christmas, everyone should get the right to eat a good meal.” At that moment, he remembered every Christmas he had where he didn’t even know if he was going to be eating. He didn’t want anyone to go through that. 

*****

“Wake up, Sammy. It’s Christmas,” Dean said, barging into Sam’s room. 

“Five more minutes?” Sam grumbled. 

“No way, sleepyhead. You have gifts, and Cas and Gabe are coming over in an hour.”

Hearing Gabe was coming over was the motivation he needed to get up. He didn’t even grasp the concept that he would have gifts too. He just wanted to give the ones he bought. Sam got dressed quicker than he had ever and practically ran out to eat a quick breakfast and wait by the window for their guests. 

“He’s here!” Sam bolted out the door and tackle hugged Gabe, almost knocking him down to the ground. 

“Hey, Sammoose, it’s almost like you haven’t seen me in a while. It’s not like we didn’t see each other two days ago or anything.” Gabe chuckled. “Merry Christmas,” he added, hugging him back soundly.

Sam gave him a tender kiss before letting him go so they could get out of the cold. Everyone gathered around and gifts were passed around. Sam waited with three gifts in front of him. He wanted to see their faces first. Seeing their faces on how much they loved their gifts meant everything to him. 

Sam couldn’t tell you what he got for Christmas that year, and it honestly didn’t matter to him. He had a family that cared. Finally, he no longer felt like a lost boy.


End file.
